Bio
Malcolm Lee Kijirah (Maleek) was born in Langata in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, the hub of East Africa. A beautiful and amazing place with a people who enjoy partying and having a good time. In the late eighties and nineties the world was being introduced to a form of black music called hiphop. Maleek from his childhood quickly grew enamored with this music due to its poetry, beats and social commentary as well as its roots in afro-jazz, soul and the blues. From an early age he started listening to LL Cool J, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick among others. He would tape these legends of the game on an old tape deck and mimic every word until he too became conversant with word play and various rhyme patterns. He spent his teenage years during the golden age of hip-hop listening to greats such as Biggie, Tupac, Jay-Z, Nas,Dre and Snoop, Wu- Tang, Boot Camp Click etc and it is this foundation that led to his interest in hip hop music. As early as his primary school years he had already put together a rap group R -JEM with two of his best friends. He continued to write and practice his music skills through high school however never taking it seriously. However there was something missing. The Kenyan music scene at the time did not accept hip hop as a local art form, and there were no local hip hop tracks being played on radio at the time. It would seem that local fans were unwilling to accept it as a local form of music but rather viewed local hip hop acts as copying African Americans.
In 2000 after he had left his beloved Kenya to follow his University studies in Sydney Australia he met Tshazi Okoth - Ogendo who shared his interest in music. Tshazi in turn introduced him to a Tanzanian called Robert 'Mr Zux' Lyakurwa who was a stalwart of the local Sydney hip hop scene. The rest as they say is history. Maleek soon joined BOP (Big one Productions) an outfit of four MC's led by Mr Zux and soon begun performing in clubs and concerts all over Australia, also opening for acts such as Bone Thugs and Harmony, Alkaholics and the like. However during this time he was writing generic hip hop in English. He still yearned for the day the Kenyan music scene would be alive with local hip hop acts writing and performing hip hop music in the mainstream.
As luck would have it there was a burgeoning scene that had started in the late 90's and early 2000 with acts like K-South and Kalamashaka. Maleek followed their progress and was impressed by their word play in Swahili but being overseas he could only watch and eagerly await his turn. In 2002 he sent a track ' NRB - Nairobi', featuring Textsyles another Kenyan artist in Australia to a local station. Despite it being in English the track entered the local charts on Capital FM and received airplay. Whilst this was encouraging it took until 2003 when he had finally finished his studies and gone back to Kenya for Maleek to see the potential and growth of the music scene. Finally Kenyan urban artists were getting airplay in the clubs with production houses like Ogopa doing very well.
Whilst the type of local music being played was not his genre, he still appreciated their ability to make music that was urban yet uniquely Kenyan and more importantly in Swahili. Maleek wasted no time and recorded two tracks 'Cheki' and 'Najua Wanitaka' all of which were received well and received significant airplay. However he again left the country to complete his postgraduate studies, knowing full well that in Africa music was a very meager way to earn a living.
In 2006 on one of his visits home he found that his best friend Tshazi had started a production house and was now a talented Hip Hop producer. With easy access to a studio and the most talented Hip Hop producer in Kenya he immediately started recording. These sessions gave rise to the start of the idea that was 'Karanite Forever'. It is in these sessions that he recorded and filmed the video for 2050 which was undoubtedly one of the biggest club bangers of 2006-2007 in Kenya. Sadly his brother passed away after the making of 2050 and it was one of his wishes that Maleek finish what he started and record an album. On the wall of the Backstage Entertainment studio, Tshazi made all artists who recorded there sign their name. Karani a reggae fan who frequented the studio had written the words "Zion High Karanite!". That was the reason for the title of the album Karanite Forever. During recording sessions after his death, Maleek saw his brothers writing on the wall and the album 'Karanite Forever was born. The rest is history...you all now can live it.....the writing is on the wall..Karanite Forever!!
